Jesus Made Fully Human
Hebrews 2:5-18
- What did it mean to the original reader or original audience?
Summarize the main story: Describe the events of the scriptural story in your own words.
Review and retell the story.
- When your parents went away, who were you "subject to" as a child? How did you look upon this person or the rules imposed on you?
#People =
#Time =
#Place =
#Obedient faith =
#Sin =
#Key Idea =
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- In contrast to the popular expectation of that day (v. 2:5), to whom does God subject the world (vv, 2:6-8a)? Why is this rule not yet complete or universal? Who rules instead?
- In comparing people and angels (vv. 2:5-8), how are we both lower and higher? What is the ultimate destiny of humanity?
- To what does the phrase "the world to come" refer (v. 2:5)? How can the kingdom of God exist in both the present (in Jesus, in history) and the future (at the end of time)?
- In what respects was Jesus "made lower than the angels" (v. 2:9)? What elevated him above them? What does Jesus share or have in common with humanity (vv. 2:7,9)? In which respect is Jesus unique?
- Why did we need someone with flesh and blood like us, not an angel to die in our place (vv. 2:14-18)? What did Jesus accomplish by his death as one of us? What is the goal of our salvation (vv. 2:10-11)? What does it mean that Jesus authors salvation?
- What is the difference between the way Jesus made atonement (v. 2:17) and the way the priests mediate atonement?
- When (if ever) did you drift away from the faith? Why? What evidence for faith helped bring you back?
- At what points might you be tempted to lose your faith: After a big loss? When you seem to be making it very well on your own? When things are not going your way? When Christianity is mocked on TV talk shows?
- How do the achievements and example of Jesus described here encourage you at such times?
- Of Jesus' three titles (brother, v. 2:11; author of salvation, v. 2:10; high priest, v. 2:17) which one means most to you now? Why?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
- What transformative move needs to be made?
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
Take Away Challenges
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
Whom do you know who needs to hear this?
What is God bringing to your attention in this discussion? What beliefs, thoughts, or actions need to be addressed or changed?
Other Resources:
- Other YouTube Videos
Lesson Five - Hebrews 2:5-9
https://youtu.be/XHMRExSktRQLesson Six - Hebrews 2:10-13
https://youtu.be/perKW90ODHoLesson Seven - Hebrews 2:14-15
https://youtu.be/t_2HqSx937sLesson Eight - Hebrews 2:16-18
Lesson Nine - Hebrews 3:1-6
The Danger of Neglect
Articles
- Devotions
Honoring A Life
Stephen Siller was a 34-year-old firefighter with Brooklyn’s Squad 1 when the terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center towers. He abandoned his golf date with his brothers and called his wife, Sally, to let them know. Finding the Battery Tunnel closed, he strapped on 60 pounds of bunker gear and ran through the tunnel to get to the scene. Siller was one of 343 NYFD members killed while saving others that day, leaving his wife and five children. In his memory, Siller’s brother Frank began the Tunnel2Towers charity to support Gold Star families of military and first responders.
In September 2018, Corporal Garrett Hull of the Fort Worth Police Department was called to help apprehend armed robbers who had struck at least 17 times. The detective unit caught the gang in the act of holding up a bar and advanced when the thugs tried to make their getaway. Hull pursued one fleeing felon who opened fire. Hull shot back, but in the gunfight he was fatally wounded as was the outlaw. A few days ago, Frank Siller of Tunnel2Towers presented widow Sabrina Hull and her two daughters the paperwork showing that her home mortgage had been completely paid by the charity. It was one of 24 mortgages paid off in 24 days by the organization. Frank Siller honors his brother by caring for many others who have sacrificed for the public safety. Basic gratitude tells us that rescuers are worthy of great and lasting honor.
“In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:8b-9 NIV).
Of course, the greatest rescue by the most heroic figure of all history is the redemption and salvation of people by Jesus Christ. Stepping out of the perfection of the heavenly realm to take on human flesh, He shared everything we experience. He didn’t do that because He couldn’t otherwise understand us—He did that to prove to us that He understands us perfectly. He even experienced a vicious death in our place and then shockingly rose from the dead. He now calls us to follow Him so that we, too, might have life with Him forever.
How shall we honor the One who died in our place and still offers us eternal life with Him? We can do no less than assembling to worship and honor Him on the first day of the week. He’s even given us the memorial of communion to bring His salvation front and center in our minds and hearts! We can honor Him by joyously living according to His pattern of godliness. We can honor Him by loving and serving His people. We can honor Him by spreading the news about Him to others so that they, too, can be saved in another heroic rescue. Every day we can bless others in the name of Jesus Christ so that the credit for goodness goes where it belongs—to Him whom we honor and adore.
For more information about Tunnel2Towers, navigate to https://tunnel2towers.org/
Thrill Ride
Fear makes us do funny things. A 64-year-old defense company executive in France was near retirement and his co-workers wanted to provide a better gift than a plaque, so they arranged for a very special event. To his surprise, they brought him to an air base in northeastern France for a coveted ride in the back seat of a Dassault Rafale B fighter. A quick flight physical certified him for the experience and a very short safety briefing failed to prepare him for the ride. After the event, it was shown that his G-suit pants were not properly worn, his seat straps were not securely tightened and his helmet and oxygen mask were not buckled. The biggest problem, though, was that nobody thought to ask him whether he wanted the flight or not.
Heart racing, he got in the plane. The pilot taxied out to the runway and hit the throttle. The responsive jet rocketed down the runway and the pilot pulled 3.7gs of force smoothly rising to about 1,500 feet, where he started to level off. When the passenger felt himself lifting off the seat in negative g-force, in alarm he grabbed the first thing he could find to steady himself—a black and yellow striped loop sticking up between his knees. Sadly, that was the trigger of the MK 16 ejection seat, which blew off the canopy and shot him straight out of the plane. His parachute deployed perfectly and he landed safely, minus his loose helmet. The pilot was able to bring the plane in safely, too, so only pride was permanently wounded. Fear can derange our thinking.
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV).
Fear of death has led to every imaginable delusion and sin. People have spent everything looking for miracle cures, undergone staggering plastic surgeries, robbed, killed, and abandoned families—all in the vain hope of evading death. Others have invented religious rituals and spun myths, pretending that they can magically transform reality so that death will never come to them. Yet the universal statistic remains: one out of one will die. Yet, what if that certainty turned out to be not the final word?
Jesus demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that death is not actually the end of the story. He had resuscitated others during His ministry, but when He rose from death He showed that He has power over death. He promises that He will extend that same life to all those who want to accept it from Him, demonstrating their faith in Him by repentance and baptism so that their sins might be forgiven and they might be in a covenant with Him for life. Once the fear of death is removed from us, we are free to live each day in joyous righteousness and holiness. God has given us unimaginable blessings at every phase of our lives. When death can no longer terrify and derange us, we can relax and enjoy each part of the ride!
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